MCP Prompts
MCP Prompts are guided workflows that an MCP server exposes to AI assistants. They define multi-step processes — like onboarding a new user, debugging an issue, or generating a report — that combine your tool's capabilities with structured AI guidance.
Explanation
Prompts are the most opinionated MCP primitive. While Tools and Resources are general-purpose, Prompts encode domain-specific workflows. Each prompt has a name, description, and a template that defines the conversation flow. When a user selects a prompt, the AI assistant follows the guided workflow — asking questions, calling tools, reading resources, and providing structured output. For example, a deployment platform's MCP server might offer a 'deploy-review' prompt that walks through checking the diff, running tests, reviewing the deployment plan, and confirming the deploy. Prompts are especially powerful for complex workflows where the user might not know the optimal sequence of steps. They turn your domain expertise into an AI-guided experience.
Related Terms
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that defines how AI assistants connect to external tools, data sources, and services. It provides a structured way for AI models to discover, understand, and use capabilities from any MCP-compatible server.
MCP Tools
MCP Tools are the action primitive in the Model Context Protocol. They let AI assistants perform operations — creating records, triggering deployments, sending messages, or any other action your service supports — by calling structured functions on your MCP server.
MCP Resources
MCP Resources expose read-only data to AI assistants. They let AI models query databases, read files, fetch configurations, or access any data from your system — without performing mutations or side effects.
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